In the prior art, rotatable collectors for harvested material, so-called pick-up's, comprise tine bars which are mounted radially around the exterior of a central tube and are connected to the latter. Rotation of said central tube will cause the tines mounted on said tine bars to lift up material to be harvested from the ground and convey it to a collecting area.
Particularly important here is how far the tines are spaced from the ground. In the case of wheel-supported pick-up's, such distance is usually determined and set by means of separate sensing wheels or sensing skids.
Such an array of several shaft segments which are interconnected via rigid frames is disclosed in DE 20 2010 010 038 U1.
DE 91 13 475 U1 discloses a torsionally flexible profile which is mounted on a rigid yoke between two frames and in which the shaft is guided with wheels mounted on the exterior of each frame. Similarly, DD PS 143 496 discloses shaft bushings which are spring-mounted or articulated on a rigid yoke and which are connected to load-bearing skids and support a flexible shaft. Furthermore, strippers are provided which are likewise connected to the shaft and are spring-mounted or articulated on said rigid yoke. As the machine passes uneven ground, this array will cause the tines to be axially displaced relative to the strippers.
However, the disadvantage of these pick-up's is that usually only operating widths of between about 2 to 3 meters can be accomplished without risking considerable dirt ingress or excessive raking losses as the machine travels on uneven ground.